Nursery Rhymes for the Damned
by Annacat101
Summary: Exactly as the title says, a series of one-shots that contain bastardized and personalized nursery rhymes for a multitude of characters, so far including Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, Itachi, Ino, Shino, Tsunade, Kyuubi, Gaara, Lee, Iruka, and ?. Enjoy!
1. Hush Little Kitsune

__A/N: The first in a series of one-shot Nursery Rhymes. This one is Hush Little Baby.

* * *

_**Hush, little baby, don't shed a tear,**_

_**Kyuubi'll hurt them don't you fear.**_

_**Because they hurt you in the day,**_

_**Tonight they'll bleed and I'll make them pay.**_

_**But if that blood won't fix that debt,**_

_**Kyuubi will break them don't you fret.**_

_**And if they break and don't scream out loud,**_

_**Kyuubi will burn this village to the ground.**_

_**If that village don't turn to ash,**_

_**To shatter their mountain my tails will lash.**_

_**If that mountain don't crumble to mud,**_

_**Kyuubi will soak this world with blood.**_

The little boy smiled, wounds fading as he hummed in tune, the voice deep and reassuring in his head. Tonight, he gurgled happily, everything would be Better. Kyuubi told him. Kyuubi never lied, matted blonde hair stroked by glowing red hands. Kyuubi kept his promises, singing, blocking the screams and stench of death. Small hands tracing patterns in the blood flooding the streets, shrapnel falling like rain from the once-faces above him, never penetrating the tail curled protectively around him. On a whim he sucked his thumb, surprised at the bittersweet taste, better than the old, soggy ramen the street vendor threw out. His childish voice joined the deep one filled with laughter, the last verse sung innocently, tenderly, in mockery of a burning world.

_**And if that blood trickles to an end,**_

_**For you I will start, all over again.**_


	2. Twinkle Twinkle Silver Child

A short one, again: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

_Twinkle Twinkle little eye_

_Glowing red into the night_

_Masks to hold the world at bay_

_Mother's gone but Father stays_

_Twinkle twinkle little boy_

_Never now to smile with joy_

* * *

_Father left you all alone_

_Breaking rules you've always known_

_He's not scum, unlike you_

_Because of you, your friend died too_

_Twinkle twinkle you are damned_

_No one now will hold your hand_

* * *

_Everyone you loved you killed_

_Sensei died his blood was spilled_

_It's your fault, you were not strong_

_They all paid for all your wrongs_

The silver-haired child knelt, hands clasped almost reverently together, a mockery of prayer. The cruel words not losing their pain though repeated a thousand times, again and again. A mantra, the boy's voice softly whispering, a sweet lullaby but for the words he spoke. He couldn't remember the original verses, so young when his mother first sang it to him, and Father never did, always breaking down, crying so only the tune reached through his pretend slumber.

Father never stayed when he was awake. He opened his palms, so small, the tiny scars the color of driven snow in the moonlight, the familiar, gleaming object resting between them pure like it never was in his dreams. Stained and broken. Calling for blood only he could give.

_Twinkle twinkle silver knife,_

_Cut your throat and end your life_


	3. Little Pink Girl

****Even shorter! I'm not doing so well with my promises, am I? Well, this is actually the companion piece to my old one-shot "Cherry Blossom Monsters and Almost Gods" but can definitely stand alone, no worries. I totally am not trying to pimp out my other story or anything.

Rhyme: Little Bo Peep.

* * *

**The girl of life unsheathed her knife,**

**Now they would all be together.**

**They were her boys, they were her joys,**

**They would stay with her forever.**

* * *

**"Sakura please, don't do this it's me."**

**She thought she heard them screaming.**

**But it was a lie, for there was no cry,**

**Dead were the both she was dreaming.**

* * *

**Little boy green, he had not seen,**

**Asking her what was wrong with them.**

**To him she told, silver tears shining gold,**

**Hands bloody from trying to heal them.**

* * *

**Alone in her head, her demons were dead,**

**But the voice just kept on calling.**

**Asking for blood, she complied with a flood,**

**The screams stopped her from falling.**

* * *

**But then one day, the others did stray,**

**Into a meadow near by.**

**There they espied the entrails side by side,**

**All hung on a tree to dry.**

* * *

**She heaved a sigh, "I'm caught, aren't I?"**

**And over the hills she fled.**

**But try as she might,**

**There's no hiding from light,**

**Or little boys who won't stay dead.**


	4. Pop! Goes Itachi

Because Itachi literally means weasel, here's Pop! Goes the Weasel.

* * *

**The blood will fill the streets tonight,**

**They are dead by his needles.**

**But that is how the orders go,**

**"Damn you" screams the weasel.**

* * *

**The boy he cried with pretty eyes,**

**Their sight he tried to cover.**

**Betrayed by all he's ever known,**

**"Hate me" laughs his brother.**

* * *

**Come in peace the other won't,**

**Red eyes they sparkle madly.**

**Pure and loyal to the end,**

**"Save him" prays Itachi.**

* * *

**Sacrifice to light the fire,**

**Liver picked by Eagles.**

**A martyr with his blind red eyes,**

**"Love you" smiles the weasel.**


	5. Ino and the Roses

A/N: This is "ring around the rosie" if you are from the US or "ring a' ring o' roses" if you're from anywhere else.

Kyuubi233 has illustrated some of my stories, you can find her on deviantart by the same name. They're really great.

* * *

I used to find a kindred spirit in this version of Ino. Never went anywhere, but I was extremely self-conscious (still hate having photos of myself anywhere). I am short and extremely pale (red-head, so I can never tan ever) and about 120 pounds and I don't know why I was so upset at the time. The insecurity and inferiority I felt is unfortunately extremely common, but it passes.

My point is, if any of you can empathize with what Ino is feeling, know that you are beautiful and special and lovable, and once you start loving yourself for who you are, then life gets better. All of it. Mentally, physically, emotionally, school-wise, relationships-wise. Everything.

**tl;dr:** You are beautiful. Yes, **You**. Ino is wrong.

* * *

_Ring around the lilies_

_Bows with all the frillies_

_I'm a pig, I'm a pig_

_Skinny as a twig_

The well worn ribbon itches like dried blood on a scab in the palm of my hand. An injury that begs to be picked at until it festers, refusing to heal.

It isn't fair. I built her up. I gave her everything.

No, that's wrong. I didn't do it for the expectation of some sort of payback. I knew she was beautiful. I just wanted to make sure she knew it, too. Forehead girl, indeed. Her proportions are perfectly sound.

We could have been even more beautiful, together. Pink and purple. Green and blue.

Complementary.

I learned that word in class today. We would enhance each others qualities. Instead, we'll bring out the worst in each other. At least I came out as the winner in the eyes of all the other girls. But being on top seems to be just as lonely as being on the bottom. It isn't fair.

I'm being too dramatic, I know. But what she did, I'll always

**Remember.**

_Ring around the heather_

_Delicate as a feather_

_Beautiful, beautiful_

_That is my goal_

Their eyes follow me, tight violet suit perfectly contrasting my blue eyes and alabaster skin. The perfect girlfriend and lover. Accessory and wife.

But that wasn't why I signed up for this. At least I pray it isn't. And then once I start doubting myself it just starts again. Am I really so shallow that I only became a shinobi for the glitz and the glamor? Asuma-sensei always tells me I need to eat, build up my strength and muscles. Appearances don't matter on the battlefield. But he doesn't understand.

I can't give this up, the pills and the fingers sticking down my throat after every time Chouji takes us out to eat because I feel sick when I don't. Because I am sick. Ugly and bony and hideous and fat.

And even when they say they love me, say I'm sexy and beautiful I know it's not true. I will never be perfect. I will always just be

**Me.**

_Ring around the hemlock_

_Going on a little walk_

_First time, first time,_

_Losing my mind._

The first time I tried my mind technique, I was nine years old and Father borrowed one of the Nara deer to practice on. I squinted so hard I could see my cheeks at the bottom of my vision. A week earlier Sakura's had jiggled when she laughed, and we all made fun of her. I was so focused on the ugly knots inside my chest from remembering that I almost didn't realize I had left until I was flying.

Fleeing and gliding and jumping and twisting through open fields. Nothing about me was wrong. Everything moved perfectly. Sinews stretching and contracting in tandem, dancing underneath the orchards until I caught my antlers in branches and laughed and laughed and laughed until I had lips again and could finally voice the mirth I felt.

Father didn't look at me as he told me Mother's story. Mother had had a gift for jumping between animals, too. The ANBU used that in her missions. One to another and farther and farther, leaving a piece of her mind in each one. It had been a trail home until it wasn't.

And then one day she didn't come back. I'll always come back. I promised.

**Remember?**

_Ring around the daffodils_

_I am the one popping pills_

_He was sorry, he was sorry_

_He didn't love me_

The needle caresses my flesh, tongue teasing the pill like a lover's kiss. It's so easy to be poetic when you're flying without a care in the world.

Until the crash.

The crash is like absentmindedly picking flowers and finding out they are poisonous after a dozen customers limp back with welts and curses and hospital bills. Like skipping out on tending the store to buy a new dress with Father's money and coming home to find he returned from his mission early and has already left for another.

But now isn't the crash. I'm on wings unfettered by such trifles like love and heartbreak and hatred based on nothing but pride. But it isn't my fault, she left me for him first. There's always a him. The fairytale prince of every princess's dream. But why couldn't he have been meant for

**Me?**

_Ring around the hollies_

_People are my dollies_

_Powerful, powerful_

_Mine to control_

I fall into the man's body, heavy with age and greed and fear. Fear of retribution from the very men he starved on the street, the same men who toiled and begged, years upon years, until they could pay for the very best to destroy this monster.

It has been years since I felt this justified in doing a mission.

And as an ANBU, that's a lot of fucking missions.

A shaver gleams dully upon his wrought-iron stand, stained already from nicking his fat jowls. The floor creaks beneath us, beneath him as I walk across the room and grab it, ignoring the provocatively clothed girl lying limp in the corner. In the darkened nightclub, I had been lithe and soft and sensual with eyes blue enough to drown in. Here, the lipstick has smeared down her chin like drool, and her cheekbones cast shadows sharper than a razor.

I giggle. Bad analogy. In his voice, it comes like a pig's squeal.

I take a deep breath and slice the shaver across my, his, neck, blood spurting sluggishly as I push and pull myself out of his mind, drowning, flailing until I reach my own, pushing and pulling myself into my body. The skin feels stretched tight in places and baggy in others. Those feelings will soon pass. I won't have to

**Remember.**

_Ring around the marigold_

_No one left for me to hold_

_Help me, help me,_

_I can't find my body._

Tiny sparrow's heartbeat fluttering, I reach out into the darkness, the thread binding me to the, to my body just a mere glimmer. I fly, tracing the path I had traveled, over a thousand miles and a thousand minds, a little hop from one to the other.

A little left behind in each one.

I spy the little clearing where the freezing air moves in currents as if above the desert. I remember that, the detailed map and mission assignment as perfectly as I remember each and every single mission I've taken. The way I don't remember my birthday party or when it was. Or my favorite color or if I ever had one.

I skitter on tiny feet to my body slumped in the corner. The white-gold hair is frosted by tiny blue icicles trapping the split ends, and I wonder if I ever cared enough to keep it beautiful. If anyone would care if I came back with it like this. Or if I even came back.

I wonder if they, the skinny boy who cooks and the fat boy who stares at clouds, would miss

**Me.**

_Ring around the poppy_

_Forgetting to remember me_

_There by night, gone by day_

_For nothing gold can stay_

I dance beside the body, hopping from foot to foot and cawing in confusion. Its flawless skin is still and perfect as a statue. Somehow, it isn't right.

But then I fly away on unchained wings, so black they're almost green. Up and out into the summer sky blue enough to drown in,

And I wonder what color its eyes were.

I knew once, I think.

But I've

**Forgotten.**

* * *

Lillies = Pride, Heather = Beauty, Hemlock = Curse, Daffodils = Unrequited Love, Holly = Enchantment, Marigold = Despair, Poppy = Oblivion.


	6. The Itsy Bitsy Spider

A/N: Ever notice all of team eight wears too-large coats? **XD**

**Kyuubi233** on **deviantart** as posted her **Hush Little Kitsune drawing!**

******VISIT HER NOW** (after the story, of course XP)**AT THE LINK ***delete the parenthesis*: http://kyuubi233(.)deviantart(.)com/art/Hush-little-kitsune-160550802

**WARNING!** This is most likely the darkest story I have EVER written. Includes consensual, non-explicit rape (it DOES make sense... trust me...)

Enjoy! XD (Actually, please don't. If you enjoy something like this you might be slightly more disturbed than myself... yeah takes a lot of work to do that. This is just a test for me so if enough ppl hate lemme kno and I'll change it/take it down)

*** * ***

* * *

"Baby, why you all wet? Lemme take off your coat, baby, you're soaking."

Shino knows Kiba is broken.

Knows it better than his bugs, catching the scent of cheap liquor and cheaper women hot and heavy on his breath. Knows it clearer than Kiba's eyes, sparkling with the intensity of the damned, after so long dull and clouded with grief and despair. Knows it deeper than his own soul as Kiba's is laid bare before him, in bruising, fumbling hands that push him, unresisting, to the soft, patchwork bed. Shino _knows._

Because Hinata is already dead_._

_**The Itsy Bitsy Spider**_

**

* * *

**

Shino wonders, while washing the caked blood away, why he lets Kiba do it. It's bad, wrong not only for the dull aches and sharp pains that come every night, but mental trauma it's sure to cause, that it's _already _caused. Sitting for hours before the mirror, slowly picking the scabs off the marks left from the latest visit, watching it bleed through his too-large coat.

But Shino can't stop. Can't stop Kiba from hurting him, night after night with tender love-making too frail for the body he lives in. Can't stop him afterward, when Kiba holds his shivering, naked body riddled with holes on the inside only, whispering soft words meant for another's ears. It hurts, but Shino can't stop playing this mockery of _Lets Pretend__._

Because if this makes him just a little bit less guilty, how could he say no?

**_Was lost inside his hate_**

**

* * *

**

Kiba was never drunk again, like that first night. He's getting better, healthy tan showing through once more. Shino knows he himself is the opposite, the strongest after Hinata died, now fading away, drop by drop, as dew slides off a silken white web brushed carelessly aside.

Shino knows he is killing himself, food never stays down. And sleep brings no rest, just nightmares. He is not afraid of what Kiba will do, Shino can kill in seven seconds and with his bugs in even less. Shino is scared of what Kiba will _**say**._

Shino has nightmares of when Kiba will speak and no longer be playing the game.

**_Out came the truth and_**

**

* * *

**

Shino's performance during missions is abysmal, every move sends sharp throbbings through his starved body. He isn't surprised when someone notices, only of who. But, then again, he really shouldn't have been so shocked.

It started out accidentally, months after the incident, trudging through the pouring sleet after brutal training. But really, how hard is it to miss a bright orange and black jumpsuit in the middle of a green forest? A huge hand slapped his back, for a moment Shino thought it was _him_, going limp before remembering Kiba was away on a mission and _couldn't _be waiting for him.

Naruto stares at him with those clear blue eyes Shino once thought could save him, a sun to illuminate the darkness, wash him free of all his sins. But his sins are unforgivable now. Shino doesn't care anymore, weak heart stuttering, coughing and hacking and choking on more than just tears, the forbidden name falling unbidden from his lips.

"What's wrong? Hinata-chan?!? Come on, lemme get you to the hospital, alright?"

_**Saved him from his fate**_

**

* * *

**

Shino doesn't remember much of the trip between the forest floor and the hospital, though he does remember being carried. Carried by those strong arms, so much like Kiba's. Shino remembers fighting him, biting and clawing and screaming for all the times he never could. He doesn't know how Naruto fended off his bugs, but Naruto looks at him funny when he asks, and Shino doesn't press further.

Sakura comes in later, and Shino wonders when she became an actual doctor in her own right, but it has been months since he looked at her, or anyone else besides Kiba for more than a passing glance.

"I ran a full diagnostic, just to be sure there wasn't anything bad in your system, and I came across something I thought I should talk to you about. I know it's hard, the life of a shinobi, and what you do in order to... relieve stress is your own business. And having another take the place of family head must allow you some more freedom, and yet,"

She pauses, unsure. And Shino knows she is too late to help him.

"Just be careful, okay?"

**_But he walked away, said_**

**

* * *

**

Shino thought it ironic that the bed sheets had just been washed.

That joke, however, did nothing to alleviate the rest of his mind, frozen in fear of the boy who stood in his doorway, dirt-encrusted arms shaking, bloody hands reaching forward with a want and a need blind to the truth.

And later, after Kiba is satisfied, after the blood on Shino's arm, shoved inside his own mouth in order to keep from screaming, finally dries, only after that does Shino allow himself to cry.

And Kiba holds his shivering, pain-wracked body close, whispering sweet nothings to the girl long since turned to ash.

_**He'd rather live a lie**_

**

* * *

**

For one year it continued, exactly one year since Kiba fell, drunk and broken, dragging Shino down with him.

One year since Shino dodged the kunai that lodged itself in her pretty white throat, little breaths puffing out, white clouds from white lips on a white face as white eyes finally closed amidst the white snow splattered with too-red blood.

Tonight is the night one year ago Shino and Kiba burned Hinata, the Byakagun too precious to be left behind. The fire consumed her, glittering black until the only things left were ashes and a too-large coat. Shino shrugs that same coat on, the one he wears every night for Kiba.

But Shino knows tonight will be different. Shino _knows._

**_So the Itsy Bitsy Spider_**

**

* * *

**

"Why you all wet, baby? You're soaking, baby, lemme take it off your coat."

And it's the same, the same as before. Except Kiba keeps talking.

"It's been a year, baby, and I miss you so bad. You feel so real, but I know it can't be. Maybe it's just a dream. But, you're everywhere. Oh God, I can't get you out of my head! And you know what, baby? I never want to."

And it's normal, the soft words and the softer touches, but Kiba isn't making any sense.

"Sometimes I feel as if it's her that died, instead of you. Remember that time, at the hospital? Yeah, I asked the nurses what room she was in, I go in, and it's you, baby, just you. It's like that all the time. But I'm not complaining, baby, I love- wait! I'm sorry, baby, I'm so sorry! Come back! Shino! Don't leave me! Shino!!"

But Shino is gone, racing as if he can outrun the treacherous truths that fall, unbidden, from Kiba's lying tongue. Sprinting across the dirt road, tiny white feet cut open by the sharp rocks. Dark brown hair whips around his face, stinging eyes grown white with fear. He falls, exhausted, before the cenotaph, tracing the worn names with delicate fingers, praying that the words are _lieslieslies _because Hinata is the one Kiba loved, the one who died. Not him. Shino isn't dead.

Not dead not dead not deadnotdeadnotdeadnot

**"Deceased - Aburame Shino"**

Hinata screams.

But the sound is drowned out by the thunder, the truth cascading mercilessly past the walls she had erected so carefully around her mind and soul.

Finally she stops, staring down at her hands as she picks up her too-large coat. She shrugs it on, careful not to bump it against the new bruises he got during training. He turns to leave, a slow, steady pace through the drizzling rain, walking faster and faster until he is running. Shino knows he is running away, away from the newly-carved name **Hyuuga Hinata **branding itself into his memories. It's all his Shino's fault, but Kiba took it harder than he ever did.

But Shino knows today Kiba will be different, no longer staring with eyes dull and clouded with grief and despair. Shino _knows._

_And behind him stood the cenotaph, the names shadowed into oblivion by the oncoming dawn._

_**Played the game until he died**_

**

* * *

**

A/N: Here's the original ending of the poem that I had to take out because it no longer fit the story. I liked (and worked on) it too much to delete so here it is:

_kiba cries salty cold blood falling to the hollow in his throat where shino used to kiss him. a mournful howl fills the air as the first drop dries on a too-large coat._

_shino dies bitter hot tears falling to the hollow in his throat where kiba used to kiss him. a cheerful hum fills the air as the last ember cools on a too-large coat._

_hinata lies sweet numbing words falling from lips no one has kissed. a dead silence fills the air as she reads the cenotaph, far too cold without a too-large coat._

*** * ***

To those of you who got it in the beginning, with my _Shutter Island _references. Good job! Grab yourself a cookie. Or mind-soap. Whatever takes your fancy.

At first this was just going to be like it seemed, with Hinata being dead, Kiba being in love with Hinata, and Shino allowing himself to be used (euphemism) by Kiba as a substitute for Hinata, but I figured that was a bit too predictable for me, so I changed it. It also kinda makes sense since spiders aren't really insects, but only look like them. **XD**

The reason why Kiba sees Shino instead of Hinata is that she subconsciously uses a genjutsu to fool him. And Hinata is the same as **SPOILER** (Teddy/Andrew from Shutter Island, with a really stubborn mind that created this *new* identity because Hinata could not stand the thought that Shino died because of her.) **SPOILER**

* * *

Here is the list of people I would save if the world was going to end, again, you all are amazing:

Envy4, Aeruthin, akatsuki-tenshi-kitsune, Fayneir, GespenstKAF, icefireSpirit Wolf, InfinityAtmo, Lazy She Wolf, Mariko666, Markus, NarukitX3, Shien-San, sora0179, The Eye Behind The Mask, vampgal26, BKwriter, Hollow Inside, Unknown Variable, show(.)me(.)the(.)stars., demon in training, Shiro Kitsune-chan, bali55, Duffums, Anbaanobaka, The Dark Side Has Yaoi, candysmymiddlename, demon in training, PirateCaptainBo, Roosjuh1986, Snake D'Morte, ZaffyWuffyBuffy, xXRawkin-ZwinkeyXx, Akatsuki-Hidan, Hiei Luvs Sweetsnow, xxXTheXFallenXxx, TheAlbinoBlackCat, Bloodroot Godot, 3Kiyoshi3, APG66, raralovesrock, Yuki Himura, virgo angelnine4, Vance.G, yoshino-sama, -PENUCHI-, X(.)x(.)Yaoi(.)Kix(.)Ass(.)x(.)X., kyuubi233. and Ironically Insane.

And here is my "Welcome aboard the lifeboat, guys. It's a little crowded but there's room for all and more" list:

voidal, BluAugust, SecretSnow, Chaos Raider Tenshi, and TuffChick,


	7. Laughing At Your Door

A/N: I am experiencing a great lack of affection. (Quote from Persepolis)

No seriously. Only TWO new ppl joined (FaustVIII and Shadow-The Black Queen). I felt ready to cry.

So, my amazing frend KristyKat202 (or what her name will b if she EVER makes a fanfiction account) wrote me a story based on a universe we have been drabbling around in. (see details in authors note at bottom)

Well, I had tried and failed to write Old King Cole for Hiruzen Sarutobi, so I just expanded on the short story she wrote for me (we might post it up here eventually) and came up with this in lyk 2 days. So READ! And enjoy. XD

* * *

**Die, Die, Die Alone**

The first time Hatake Kakashi was late, he was thirteen years old and lay for 15 minutes on the warm study floor, wondering if anyone cared to find him.

Of course, one could argue, the first time he was late was when he was twelve, too late in understanding, too late in forgiving, and, ultimately, too late to save a life.

But, no one mentions it, so we'll compromise and say the first time he was deliberately late he was not crying, "I'm sorry I'm sorry," and instead laughing, "I was lost on the road of life."

Besides, after a few years, all who remembered were dead or gone. (and there is a difference between the two, no matter what your parents' euphemistic sayings are. I could tell you about another little boy, who was not dead but merely gone, but that is another story, though the morals are really quite the same).

Soon everyone forgot the serious, by-the-book little boy; thinking he was always the always late, perverted man. And it was another mask to hide behind, just as the porn and the one-eyed smiles were.

But it is the clothes that make the man, they say, and the chrysalis never cracked, the little boy inside withering away, day by day, drop by drop of too-red blood.

And for many years he was late. Late even to Death, evading it's cold clutches for two decades. A mighty feat for a shinobi. (But I could tell you the tale of another man, a man who also hid himself behind masks piercing further than skin-deep. It's interesting, isn't it? The parallels that play throughout history. But that is for another day, don't you want to finish the tale of Hatake Kakashi?)

Ah, children these days. Used to listen in awe-struck silence the moment I opened my mouth. And- Sit down, Hizato-chan! You should pay attention, Kakashi was your father's sensei, after all. Why couldn't you have inherited your Mother's quiet tongue?

What's this? You didn't know Kakashi taught your father? Of course you wouldn't. Your father hardly speaks of it, blaming himself for not saving him. Indirectly, it was his fault that Kakashi was gone.

You got that, didn't you, Yukimaru-kun? Smart as your mother and loud as your father, (who knew red and green would make such a perfect little boy?). Your mother's sensei did not die, though the man we once knew was gone where none dare follow.

* * *

**You won't be late no more,**

The last time Hatake Kakashi was late, he was thirty-three years old and lay for 15 hours on the cold kitchen floor, knowing that no one cared enough to find him.

He had spent the better part of his first ten years pushing those away through icy words and colder actions.

And the latter twenty making sure they stayed far away, through familiar book jackets that covered hidden secrets just as a mask stretched across his face.

You think you know what is there, so you never look further. A brilliant boy. Scarred and broken. But brilliant.

It was the next day, when they found him. It was your father, Hizato-chan, in a moment of brilliance come far too late (perhaps they learned too well from their Sensei), who thought of checking the old Hatake estate he heard once from my old teammate.

* * *

**Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily**

They felt Death's hand, cold and clammy, brush across their own backs, caressing their necks and whispering _toolatetoolatetoolate _(for Death does have a voice, creaking wooden boards and windows rattling on a stormy evening, dry leaves crackling in a silent wind prickling the hairs on the back of your neck as a fly buzzes 'round your ears).

Disbelief, Yukimaru-kun? Just like your mother, kami rest her soul. (I could tell you how she died, of course, but that is up to your father to let you know).

But this story is not of the Great Sannin nor Demon Three, but of the forgotten ones in between. No one _really_ forgot him, of course. Rokudaime, Copy Nin, student of the Yondaime and teacher of the Nanadaime.

But how can we remember someone we never truly knew? Oh well, enough of past regrets, your parents will arrive soon. Finish your sake as we- I see you sneaking that bottle, Shimari-chan! Don't think because I'm blind I can't tell when you're using your shadow!

Yes, this world is so much clearer now than when I had the use of my eyes. Perhaps then I could have known the truth floating through the air in flakes of blood and ashes from ancient scrolls.

* * *

**Death laughs at your Door**

Death molded itself to Hatake Kakashi, as if it had always been there. You could almost see his chest rising and falling, sucking in great lungfuls of decay to push blood rotten and congealed through a body still as a statue, flawless in death as he had been in life.

But I said he was gone, didn't I? Funny, that.

But if a man can bring back the dead with a wave of his hand, a woman can shatter a mountain and yet another man summon giant toads, who is too say that Hatake Kakashi was not late for Death, as well?

No Hatake ever went peacefully to his grave, after all.

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A/N: Give a HUGE welcome to KristyKat202!!! (taken in direct quotes *with spelling corrections* from a chat we had)

KristyKat202: Hey PPL!!! Wassup?!?! (Annacat101: This isn't a rock concert, hun, just explain what the PerfUverse is so they won't get so confused...)

KristyKat202: sry... *whimpers*. Well, basically, I'm Kristine, and that's Annie, and we do a role-play together. not really, but kinda we write stories bak and forth. So we created the Perf uverse, which this one comes from. And it's lyk where everyone's happy... except they're not. It's kinda lyk whut the Canons totally gonna turn out to be, with like NaruxHina, LeexSakura, and ShikaxTema. (Annacat101: thats the parents of the kiddies Hizato, Yukimaru, and Shimari, respectively).

KristyKat202: *glares* ANYWAY!!! our uverse is totally nursery rhymes in an actual story. Soon as we get it all kinda put together we might publish. Annacat has a story that she's gonna put up soon about it, fricking awesome. (Annacat101: dviejkneaiviue *shush in cat-speak* they rnt supposed to kno bout that yet!)

KristyKat202: Whoops! ;-) This stories totally from Tsunade *kinda obviously if u kno our uverse, cause she's blind... dnt ask y...*. But basically it's whut happened when Annacat asked "so, WTF happened to Kakashi, he's totally dead but y?" So I wrote I little somethinsomethin for her, and she turned it into this AMAZING masterpiece.

(Annacat101: *blushes*)

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And the rest of the convo degenerated from there, but that's pretty much the gist of it. Hope that answered some of your questions!

Here's a shout-out to my ppl, i hope u guys r still reading and enjoying. And if you are, please let me kno. I'm trying not to be a review-whore but I just don't feel everyone is reading anymore...

Envy4, Aeruthin, akatsuki-tenshi-kitsune, Fayneir, GespenstKAF, icefireSpirit Wolf, InfinityAtmo, Lazy She Wolf, Mariko666, Markus, NarukitX3, Shien-San, sora0179, The Eye Behind The Mask, vampgal26, BKwriter, Hollow Inside, Unknown Variable, show(.)me(.)the(.)stars., demon in training, Shiro Kitsune-chan, bali55, Duffums, Anbaanobaka, The Dark Side Has Yaoi, candysmymiddlename, demon in training, PirateCaptainBo, Roosjuh1986, Snake D'Morte, ZaffyWuffyBuffy, xXRawkin-ZwinkeyXx, Akatsuki-Hidan, Hiei Luvs Sweetsnow, xxXTheXFallenXxx, TheAlbinoBlackCat, Bloodroot Godot, 3Kiyoshi3, APG66, raralovesrock, Yuki Himura, virgo angelnine4, Vance.G, yoshino-sama, -PENUCHI-, X(.)x(.)Yaoi(.)Kix(.)Ass(.)x(.)X., kyuubi233, Ironically Insane, voidal, BluAugust, SecretSnow, Chaos Raider Tenshi, TuffChick, Shadow-The Black Queen and FaustVII.


	8. One Two Dead Are You

A/N: Kyuubi233 on Deviantart has just posted the next picture for my story! Its Kakashi, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and it's AWESOME!! (go see link from previous story).

Thanks to my people reading this one Deviantart, toastaro and kaji-ojo-sama and anyone else who I missed. My account name is CitrusisSweet (don't ask... seriously...) if you want to message me.

Don't have much to say right now, so... Enjoy! **XD**

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**One, Two, Dead are You,**

The light surrounds you, burning the flesh no earthly fire has ever burnt before. The humans' screams are drowned by your roars of pain and anger, tails whipping as you turn to face the man who dared hurt you.

**Three, Four, Monster of Lore,**

The man glares back at you, blue eyes grown even larger through tears that are not shed in pain, but in sorrow. It is silent, as the man offers you a challenge. You laugh, a terrible sound. Many tried to harm the great Kyuubi no Youko, but none have survived. This will be the same.

**Five, Six, Out of Tricks,**

The light is everywhere, now, the burning of before a mere pinprick compared to this searing anguish. But still you laugh, hot and mocking. You know you will never die. A human cannot kill an immortal.

But then the God in White stands behind him, and you know it is over.

**Seven, Eight, This is Your Fate,**

You plead for it to be quick, but there is no mercy in the Shinigami's eyes, only hunger. They are dark, bottomless pits that remind you of another demon you once knew, before the sand and wind and hidden voices drove her mad and you were forced to abandon her. You wonder if she will ever be beautiful again.

Instead you look at the man's eyes, so unlike the Shinigami's or hers, full of life and calm resignation. You wonder if he will share your fate.

**Nine, Ten, It's Over, Then,**

The world outside is lost in the fear that consumes you, choking and burning and gasping because you don't want to die, you are so afraid of dying.

Of being lost and not-there and everything you ever were and are and could have been gone in but a moment forever and ever and the numbing cold fear is even worse than the burning hell that rages inside your soul and it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts

**Eleven, Twelve, Into Hell You Delve,**

The pain never stops, and you could almost laugh because that means you are not dead.

You pause your celebration, worried because you _should _be laughing, leaping like the kit you never were. But all you can hear are annoying cries that rip through tender ears that should not be so delicate. And again, you feel fear. But it's hot, this time, centering inside your navel and fading outward.

**Thirteen, Fourteen, The Devil You're Courting,**

Opening your eyes, you are shocked by the blurriness of the vision. How can a Demon go blind? Shapes, you can only assume they are living, wave in and out of your vision. You growl, threateningly, and a screech drowns it out. You try again, taking a deep lungful and bellowing. The screeching only grows louder.

You yell at it to shut up, not in words because Demons have no use for words, only wants and needs and fears and desires that are conveyed through taste and smell, touch and sight. And you are surprised when it does shut up, the hazy shapes speeding up.

**Fifteen, Sixteen, The Power is shifting,**

The waving object bumps into your face. You hiss as the offending appendage grabs what you assume is your nose. The fear drenches you as the ocean, pure and beautiful, once did. The object above you is a hand. A _human _hand. And it's yours.

You scream inside the cell that drips a mockery of water like the ticking of a clock.

**Seventeen, Eighteen, Trapped and Waiting,**

You were the last demon to be trapped. Now you can only wait until the human grows old enough to listen. To trick him into setting you free.

But as the years go by, its harder and harder to hate him. Not because you identify with him, right? A human and an outcast. It's not like demons are buddy-buddy, you snort derisively, the only reason why another would be in your territory would be for a challenge. But at least you had Shukaku.

But now you're both alone. Judged and convicted of a crime you never committed. And shame spirals out of your navel as you remember it is all your fault.

**Nineteen, Twenty, The World is Empty**

The years swirl by. It's hard to measure time in hours and moments when you live for centuries. Because it's all relative, really. What does one life matter, when a few sleeps later they are merely dust and ash underneath a broken stone. And you move on, for you are still alive, and that's all that matters.

But you know better now. The blood burning it's way up your throat, fear cold and numbing and older than time. Because sometimes one life can mean more than the entire world.

And you plead for him to live, the boy beneath your fingers because you love him even more than you do your own life. A lust to destroy morphing to a desire to protect. The world outside is lost in the hope that consumes you as a tiny breath bubbles free from his lips.

The last of your chakra slips into Naruto, easily as the water from your cell drips into unseen drains, the wet turning dry until you stand alone in a fiery desert. With the wind and sand that drives men to their doom and beautiful demons to the edge of sanity and over.

His sapphire eyes blink once and stare into yours. And in that instance you realize that sometimes a moment can change a life forever.

You smile briefly at him, a human expression you once would have shunned.

But as you fade into the wind you know it was worth it to see the answering grin.

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A/N: I tried to make this angsty... I really did... *sweatdrops* Well kyuubi DIES! Its kinda angsty. But I felt I was getting a bit too... sad for u guys, so I gave u hopeful story.

Normally I wouldn't think that the Kyuubi is good/loves Naruto (as a god would a human, you pervs! *wait, not a good simile... I hate you, Zeus* but it's kinda lyk an older brother or father thing.) And Shukaku is a girl-demon, in my world, but she was warped not only mentally but physically as well by the desert.

WOOHOO! 8 PPL JOINED!! *glomps newcomers* I feel so loved. XD

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Would like to thank my subscribers, especially those who review (this is for you, raralovesrock)

Envy4, Aeruthin, akatsuki-tenshi-kitsune, Fayneir, GespenstKAF, icefireSpirit Wolf, InfinityAtmo, Lazy She Wolf, Mariko666, Markus, NarukitX3, Shien-San, sora0179, The Eye Behind The Mask, vampgal26, BKwriter, Hollow Inside, Unknown Variable, show(.)me(.)the(.)stars., demon in training, Shiro Kitsune-chan, bali55, Duffums, Anbaanobaka, The Dark Side Has Yaoi, candysmymiddlename, demon in training, PirateCaptainBo, Roosjuh1986, Snake D'Morte, ZaffyWuffyBuffy, xXRawkin-ZwinkeyXx, Akatsuki-Hidan, Hiei Luvs Sweetsnow, xxXTheXFallenXxx, TheAlbinoBlackCat, Bloodroot Godot, 3Kiyoshi3, APG66, raralovesrock, Yuki Himura, virgo angelnine4, Vance.G, yoshino-sama, -PENUCHI-, X(.)x(.)Yaoi(.)Kix(.)Ass(.)x(.)X., kyuubi233, Ironically Insane, voidal, BluAugust, SecretSnow, Chaos Raider Tenshi, TuffChick, Shadow-The Black Queen and FaustVII.

And my new peeps, welcome to my world, where insanity reigns and there are no such things as boundaries. XD

an239, Demon Naruto 117, Sutzina Zion, Sable Scribe, Labbear, Grim Sinistre Symer, Overlander43, and NamidaNoNozomi.


	9. Gaara be nimble for Lee is quick

**A/N: **Cause I've been a mean author with an evil writer's block for over three weeks, I've decided to publish **TWO** nursery rhymes in **ONE **story!

That's right, kids, twice the crack for the price of one! (Slash if you squint and spin around three times in the first one... a butt-load *no pun intended* in the second one...)

**Kings and Queens** has been moved to it's own separate story. An unrelated sequel will come out soon, so favorite? *sweatdrops*

Cherry Blossoms has been uploaded on deviantart. If you have been reading my stories and have not visited _**kyuubi233**_, Sakura will find you. And when she finds you...

_AWESOMENESS AWARD DEDICATED TO: _**lokiwolf. **Because she read "Cherry Blossom Monsters and Almost Gods" AND reviewed. AND got the literary reference. i luv u. XD.

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Edit: the disjointedness of this rhyme was purposeful, you'll see why.

**_Close your eyes, rest your head,_**

**_Won't wake up, 'til you're dead._**

The blanket scratched against his skin, the boy shivering as it did so. Not from the cold, no, the desert a scorching hell even under the baleful gaze of an icy moon. His eyes fluttered, heavy with a burden too strong for such a small child, black-rimmed and fearful.

The boy drew the blanket tighter, relishing in the brief moment of pain before _Mother _softly cocooned him, murmuring soothing words of the elusive peace, an oblivion denied. He wanted to believe her, wishing with a heart not yet carved upon his skin that she was right.

**_'Cause the voices, here to stay,_**

**_Call for blood, make them pay._**

The blood sang to him, gurgling as _Mother _did. Gaara smiled, though not from the sticky, sweet liquid that hardened against his skin like the candy the school kids were given, giggling in delight at the foreign treat. Gaara smiled because _Mother _praised him, the children feared him, the villagers hated him, and the universe glittered in all its beautiful splendor, all because he existed.

Unwanted. Hated. Feared. Alone.

But he _existed_.

**_You are worthless, and alone,_**

**_A power unchecked, and unknown._**

_Mother _snickered at the children, fear and just a smidgeon of hate emanating from them, clear as the blistering sun. The painted boy chanced a quick glare, his gaze bypassing the small child before him, only seeing the monster.  
_Kankuro, _Gaara whispered, and the painted boy's eyes filled with tears as the sand slithered from the gourd to playfully nip at his toes before retreating once more. Kankuro was weak.

The girl, however, sniffled not once as she held Gaara's apathetic gaze.  
_Temari,_ Gaara whispered, voice hoarse from disuse, the effect that of any child's nightmares. A monster arisen from the grave. And yet she stood, though from a paralyzing fear or sheer stubbornness even _Mother _didn't know. Gaara didn't think he ever would.

**_For every smile and each kind remark,_**

**_Is a dagger, thrown through the dark._**

And still the nights pounded, day after day a harsh ache throughout his chest, throbbing in the kanji carved on porcelain skin. No one spoke to him any longer, the last boy meeting a grisly fate, the sand madly humming as it soaked up the blood of yet another innocent. Fitting, that the village would pay for stealing his innocence, his life and soul.

A rough voice shook Gaara from his musing, and with all the fury of a cornered dog he spun, sand whipping into readiness, to strike at or before it's master's beck and call. The man reached out, a futile gesture, twin brown eyes sparkling with a light so different from the gleam which danced within the monster's aqua depths. How befitting that the boy whose whims controlled death would have eyes the color of the life-giving water.

**_Just remember, my words are true,_**

**_No one will ever love you._**

Gaara laughed as the voices, for they were just voices now, no _Mother _would say those things to her son. Naruto said so.

Because Gaara _was _loved. His existence proven by the eternally smiling Naruto. By Temari, whose fan whirled him into a pile of horse shit during their first training session. By Kankuro, enduring Temari's ribbing and Gaara's apathetic glares as he threw a 'make-over' party. By Baki, who lost an eye to Shukaku's rages but never his affection for the tiny child left abandoned.

By Lee, who saw the true Gaara beneath the twisting strands of Shukaku's hate. Who forgave Gaara before he ever asked, not in flowery words but in trust and training, sweat-slick skin pounding against the other's in a harsh brawl. An undetectable match of demon versus dedication, striking out of the blue, unable to block or escape.

Hatred begat Existence. Love begat Life.

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Edit: the repetitiveness of this rhyme was intentional, Lee strikes me as a guy who would have mantras. BTW ichi=one, ni=two, san=three

**_Lee, be strong_**

The splinters dig beneath his skin, the boy's screams of pride dwindling down to panting murmurs.

ichi. ni. san.

The three numbers repeat, over and over, a mantra to cling to because there is nothing else, no encouraging words, only derisive jeers and taunts.

Alright, he thinks stubbornly, shit-eating grin adorning his face, though how his teeth could remain so white while filled with that much BS no one ever knew. Let them underestimate him. He'll show them up. He'll prove the world he can graduate, become a shinobi. He _has _too.

**_Lee, be fast_**

The man walks, though perhaps the better word would be a combination of skip and strut, Lee thinks giddily as his new sensei proudly proclaims what had become a silent chant, a mere routine meaning nothing.

_ICHI! NI! SAN!_

The vigorous training leaves Lee exhausted each night, waking each morning only through a strength of will and a healthy breakfast. But the aches and pains, jealous taunts and envious jeers are worth it. Lee learned three new words that day, Gai-Sensei so kind with manly tears of love, giving Lee new hope.

_SRINGTIME OF YOUTH!_

**_Tried his best,_**

Ichi. Ni. San.

No longer will he be the only Youthful companion of Gai-Sensei, Lee thinks glumly as the two new students roll their eyes at their most Youthful and Cool sensei. How dare they demean his mantra!

Springtime Of Youth.

Lee knows better than them, the aloof boy and no-nonsense girl, and yet both veritable geniuses in their own right. Rookie of the Year my ass, Lee murmurs uncharacteristically, viciously, because to mock his mantra is to mock his very existence. But Gai-Sensei booms out hope in a voice so Assured and Righteous, so unlike the apathetic and just-this-side-of-broken whisper of Neji and Kakashi.  
Both geniuses that Lee can never hope to attain the level of. And yet Gai-Sensei did.

Genius Of Perseverance.

**_But couldn't last._**

Lee doesn't think, not here, not now, whirling limbs and adrenaline rushing through him, grinning madly at the shocked, aqua eyes staring where Lee had been minutes before, a mad tangle of fist hitting sand, speed all but invisible. The sand has reached it's limit. Lee has barely begun. Let the countdown begin.

Ichi... Ni... San...

Lee was born for this moment, this time of reckoning. Though different face, different name, it is the same voice that mocked him, the same eyes that watch, dead to the world and all the people in it. But Lee will triumph against him. For Lee is alive, so much more than Gaara. So much more.

Springtime Of Youth...

But against a demon, what can a mere mortal do? But Lee is no ordinary man, he knows this, the moment he releases the fifth gate, the chakra denied to him since birth rushing faster than light, quicker than sand and wind and hidden voices calling for blood. The blood of a hard-worker no mere genius could ever attain.

Genius of Perseverance...

Lee flies, soaring through the grit-filled air on wings patched together through blood, sweat, and tears. So close, so close, a small twinge wings through his back. He dismisses it with a brief clenching of his eyes, screwing out the pain long enough for the final hit.  
But the laughter filled the air along with the sand and dust, trying to run but he can't not fast enough nowhere to run, and Lee knows that Gai-Sensei wasn't wrong. Lee just wasn't good enough.

Just a failure...

**_Love was born,_**

Ichi. Ni. San.

Lee thinks nervously, counting the heartbeats fluttering beneath his fingers. Maybe he should count his own, Lee almost smiles, after all it would be a much shorter list than Gaara's. But the silence is broken, softly wavering words muffled by the spandex suit Gaara is pressed against._  
"I... think I like you too."_

Springtime of Youth!

Lee suppresses the urge to whoop out his lifetime mantra, afraid to ruin the moment. Content with merely holding him, brushing away a lock of blood-red hair.  
_"How long... How long have you waited to tell me?"_  
_"Long enough."_

Genius of Perseverance!

_"Most people... would be too afraid to tell me they liked me, let alone loved. Or to tell me if they wanted to leave me."  
"But I am not one of those Unyouthful people! I'm never going to turn against you! I'll never hurt you. I promise! I'm not that kind of person, never will be."_

Just a failure...

Lee gained a new mantra, softly whispered each night and morning, murmured through hallways as the new diplomat of Konoha, Rock Lee, brushed against the new Kazekage. Every day and everywhere, a truth undeniable and unbreakable.

I love Gaara!

**_Love was spurned,_**

Ichi. Ni. San.

Lee thinks bitterly, counting the number, over and over, like red marks on a calendar. Three times Rock Lee cheated on Gaara.

...Springtime of Youth...

The springtime of youth spreads its seeds far and wide, a fertile growth where lovers abandoned the other as bees drift from flower to even brighter flower. An apt metaphor for the girl, grass-green versus glacial. Both eyes so captivating. So pretty. But how could he choose?

...Genius of Perseverance...

He'd wait it out, Lee decided, pounding the life out of yet another training post. She would leave Suna, and Gaara would never know.

...Just a failure...

A failure at Love and Happiness. Truth and Justice and Youth. Lee knows he is undeserving of both lovers. And yet both so very, very beautiful, wanting him and wanton, murmured cries muffled by small hands. One soft and unscarred, the other calloused and tough, each with their own little wishes and desires only Lee can fill.

...I love Gaara...

And yet, and yet, it hurt so good, love and betrayal and sheer animalistic want all mixed all together, hidden places and hidden secrets, telling pretty lies to even prettier eyes. Such beautiful, innocent lies.

...I want Sakura...

Too bad Lee was never very good at lying.

**_And like a fire,_**

_Ichi... Ni... San..._

The boy enunciates, in perfect clarity even as tears roll down a face that has never cried this way before. Three stab wounds through his heart.

_Springtime of Youth._

How can this be? How can this be what Love and Youth is truly about?

_Genius of Perseverance._

The boy laughs, cold and mocking. How true a title, but they forgot the rest. Genius of Perseverance... until whatever goal is attained and then it is abandoned.

_Just a failure._

That describes the boy all too well, a failure at being good enough, protecting his precious people, living up to expectations and holding onto true love. It's Gaara's fault Lee doesn't love him anymore.

_I love Gaara._

Because in a world where the boy who you trusted with your heart can break it without a qualm, you can only love yourself.

_I want Sakura._

Yes, he wants her so badly. Wants her to cry out and scream, to caress her as Lee did, the sand finding every mark Lee gave her and erase it, cleanse it with blood. It's been too long since _Mother's_ fed.

_Lee will pay._

Gaara repeats his new mantra, smiling.

**_Both were burned._**

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Haha! the ending sucks... I know, LOL ambiguity FTW! Yes these are BOTH in the same u-verse, just from different POVs.

Yeah, again, sorry for the wait, I hope this lives up to expectations!

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My peeps: I love everyone here, even if you don't read anymore. Seriously. (dedicated to raralovesrock once more... Yup if you review, you get a dedication) XD.

Envy4, Aeruthin, akatsuki-tenshi-kitsune, Fayneir, GespenstKAF, icefireSpirit Wolf, InfinityAtmo, Lazy She Wolf, Mariko666, Markus, NarukitX3, Shien-San, sora0179, The Eye Behind The Mask, vampgal26, BKwriter, Hollow Inside, Unknown Variable, show(.)me(.)the(.)stars., demon in training, Shiro Kitsune-chan, bali55, Duffums, Anbaanobaka, The Dark Side Has Yaoi, candysmymiddlename, demon in training, PirateCaptainBo, Roosjuh1986, Snake D'Morte, ZaffyWuffyBuffy, xXRawkin-ZwinkeyXx, Akatsuki-Hidan, Hiei Luvs Sweetsnow, xxXTheXFallenXxx, TheAlbinoBlackCat, Bloodroot Godot, 3Kiyoshi3, APG66, raralovesrock, Yuki Himura, virgo angelnine4, Vance.G, yoshino-sama, -PENUCHI-, X(.)x(.)Yaoi(.)Kix(.)Ass(.)x(.)X., kyuubi233, Ironically Insane, voidal, BluAugust, SecretSnow, Chaos Raider Tenshi, TuffChick, Shadow-The Black Queen, FaustVII, an239, Demon Naruto 117, Sutzina Zion, Sable Scribe, Labbear, Grim Sinistre Symer, Overlander43, and NamidaNoNozomi.

Hope my new people enjoy this just as much! Here's to you all! (I feel so loved, I wish I could have gotten these out sooner!)

YoIhsakak, piratepenguin666, EverlastingBreeze, blindrain, Sycojay, lokiwolf, Lykanthrope, Keelen, and aura183.


	10. Three Sannin

Hey! **Please Read!** (Author's Note dedicated to Vampire-Hime 101, for being a fellow "101")

Sorry for the long delay, you guys. Finals and all. But Kristy made me promise for every "A" I got, I would write a story. So there'll be seven new stories for you! (and for those of u who dn't understand math, that translates to me getting an A/A- in every class). XD

This story was inspired by **nonowriting** PLEASE review her amazing story _"A Glass of Tea with the Uchihas" _because with just a few more reviews, she'll write another chapter!

This story was beta-ed by **Indifferent Nobody** who is now going to be my official beta! (Yup, it's a surprise for her too). SHE wrote an awesome story called _"Truly, Madly, Deeply" _so please read and review that as well!

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**Be Thankful** for these two, because without them, you would have my crappy version of _Old King Cole _for our trio. TRUST me. It was crappy. XD

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The sake slipped down her face like a lover's caress, gently curving along her sun-kissed cheek, teasing down her throat to disappear into the darkened cove of her ample curves.

I stared envyingly, not so much that I wished to replace it's translucent drop with my hand, but of the fact she could reach such a state of oblivion where her appearance no longer mattered. The spit-slick hand glistened as she wiped the back over her lipstick-smeared mouth, belching with all the graceful beauty of a fishwife.

_**Three Sannin. Three Sannin.**_

"Hey... Jiraiya? 'Sthat you? Took ya awhile."

Her almond eyes, glazed from too many drunken nights and lonely days, finally focused upon me. They questioned with a lackluster smirk, knowing I would have found her, eventually, even without the invitation. I always did.

"Yeah, hime. It's me."

A flash of sobriety at the childhood nickname flared through her eyes, narrowing them into angry slits. They were perfect for a dominatrix, large _assets _swaying, held firm by the too-tight leather as she smirked, a whip grasped by perfectly manicured hands.

But the vision was fleeting, just as her anger, a mere echo of once strong emotions from a life lived to its fullest.

**_See how they hate. See how they break._**

"Whatcha' doin' over there? C'mon! Let's get drunk!"

"Alright."

"'Course, once ya take a sip, there ain't no goin' back."

"I know,"

I whispered, more to myself than to her, slowly swirling the milky powder until it disappeared into the sake. Her lip curled in revulsion at my hesitance, but whether it was directed towards my _not _swigging it down or the fact that I didn't rush her towards the nearest hospital I didn't know.

"I've got sheventeen minutesh,"

"Wait, wha-?"

_**They drank a toast to all their woes,**_

"Hey, Oro'! Knew ya'd accept the invite!"

Cursing furiously at my lack of awareness, allowing an S-class criminal to sidle up behind me without even a breath of warning, I leapt and pinned Orochimaru against the wall, sake cup teetering on the edge of the bar.

"Now, now, you two. Play nicsh."

"You're as big an ass as ever, Jiraiya. I'm not here to fight."

"Like Hell you aren't,"

I muttered, this time completely to myself, though I'm sure he heard me, stubborn bastard with that stupid smirk. I shoved out a bar stool for him, ignoring the way it shook the sake bottle, the last tiny white grains at the lip of the bottle finally fluttering in, dissolving in the golden fluid.

Orochimaru knocked back his drink like a pro, smirk faltering, probably as he remembered the _last _time he drank with us, but who knows? Maybe it was the fact his clothing resembled Tsunade's expensive kimono far more than my own. He looked better in it than Tsunade, the loose cloth hinting at softer curves and a delicate frame, hers bulging out to reveal a figure more suitable for a youths wet-dream than a romantic, candle-lit dinner. I shook my head to clear those thoughts _and__ images,_ swirling the sake cup once more.

**_Sick of not knowing their friends or foes._**

"Sheventeen minutesh."

"I heard you tell Jiraiya that, Tsunade. What does it mean?"

Confusion laced his normally icy tone, softening his eyes and perpetual smirk. And for a moment I thought of another time, another life still filled with strong emotions of both love and hate, when we were more than a trio of murderers, drunkards, and runaways.

But then she spoke again, a bitter, mocking tone replacing the slur, and I wondered which was worse: a Tsunade who ran away from her troubles, or a Tsunade who realized there isn't any place that far.

"Like ya always said, Oro', the best medicines always taste the bitterest. Then why shouldn't the best poison taste the sweetest?"

"W-what? What are you-"

"You have about thirteen minutes, now."

He spluttered, rising and flinging the sake bottle, glaring hatefully at the innocuous liquid as it trickled down the wall, tiny white grains clinging to the time-worn surface. His gaze hardened, as, hissing furiously, he spun towards us, denial shining bright as tears within eyes no longer a gentle shade of golden amber, but of bile and piss and withered flowers too long away from the sun.

"You tricked me! You, you're trying to kill me! Even after... I was a fool to trust you,"

"No,"

She whispered, almond eyes soft and watery, tears the color of autumn leaves trickling down her lipstick-smeared cheek to fall into the darkened cove of her sagging bosom. Fine wrinkles, none of them laugh-lines, adorned her smile as she reached out with a hand all flesh and bone to stroke his pale white forehead, trailing down his paler cheek beaded in sweat and tears to rest by her side once more.

"No, I didn't lie. This will be our last reunion. For all of us. Forev-"

I lunged to grab her, no handsome prince rushing in to save the pretty princess from an evil dragon. Not this time. The princess herself is the dragon, and she cannot run from herself. No one can. The kimono draped and wrinkled across her body, all harsh edges and bony protrusions. Gently I lowered her to the floor, trying to wipe off the lipstick, only smearing it further.

**_Can you blame them for the path they chose?_**

"No. I can't die. Don't let me die!"

He screamed, low voice spiking high with a growing sense of urgency and denial. Chanting, over and over, a mantra, honey drops glistening gold as they slip down his sickly white cheek, staining his pretty tan yukata scarlet like lipstick and face paint and an immortal dragon named Death.

"Please, Ji-Jiraiya. Please. D-d-don't let me,"

"It's okay."

"Don't let-"

"Shh,"

"Plea-"

Gently, I held him close, cradling him as a china doll, eyelids dipping inward oddly as I closed them, just like hers, wiping away with the edge of my sleeve the egg-like juice of his once proud gaze. Tsunade sure knew how to pick her poisons. Or maybe she brewed it herself, damn it if Oro' wasn't the only one experimenting while I was away.

A soft groan echoed from behind the bar, I leapt over unhesitatingly with the instinct of too-many years of fighting. Looks like the bartender didn't want to give hime her sake after all, that was one massive bruise peeping out from her pretty black hair.

**_The Three Sannin_**

"A toast,"

I whispered, the tiny _pop _of the sake cork echoing louder than the pretty girl's groan as I poured another cup before tossing it away and grabbing the bottle, the drink and poison I needed long since absorbed into the woodwork of the time-worn wall.

Softly, I caressed Orochimaru's hair, smooth in death as it had been in life. I ran my fingers over the ridges and pockmarks of Tsunade's cheek, a new surface to map and remember in the scant minutes I had remaining, before the girl behind the bar awoke, before the sun came up and the town came to life and the two people I loved most in the world stayed dead.

"To Life,"

The little jar rattled across the ground, finally stopping beside her perfectly manicured nails. I grasped it as a dying man might a lifejacket, grinning to myself at the irony I poured the tiny white granules smelling of nothing and tasting of blessed freedom into my mouth and counted down the minutes as my eyeballs cracked and bled black and white amidst the cacophony of screams from the black-haired girl, the laughter of a silver-haired boy and the sobs of a golden-haired man.

"And to Death."

* * *

And here's a toast to you, my fellow readers and writers!

Envy4, Aeruthin, akatsuki-tenshi-kitsune, Fayneir, GespenstKAF, icefireSpirit Wolf, InfinityAtmo, nonowriting, Mariko666, Markus, NarukitX3, Shien-San, sora0179, The Eye Behind The Mask, vampgal26, BKwriter, Hollow Inside, Unknown Variable, show(.)me(.)the(.)stars., demon in training, Shiro Kitsune-chan, bali55, Duffums, Anbaanobaka, The Dark Side Has Yaoi, candysmymiddlename, demon in training, PirateCaptainBo, Roosjuh1986, Snake D'Morte, ZaffyWuffyBuffy, xXRawkin-ZwinkeyXx, Akatsuki-Hidan, Hiei Luvs Sweetsnow, xxXTheXFallenXxx, TheAlbinoBlackCat, Bloodroot Godot, 3Kiyoshi3, APG66, raralovesrock, Yuki Himura, virgo angelnine4, Vance.G, yoshino-sama, -PENUCHI-, X(.)x(.)Yaoi(.)Kix(.)Ass(.)x(.)X., kyuubi233, Ironically Insane, voidal, BluAugust, SecretSnow, Chaos Raider Tenshi, TuffChick, Shadow-The Black Queen, FaustVII, an239, Demon Naruto 117, Sutzina Zion, Sable Scribe, Labbear, Grim Sinistre Symer, Overlander43, NamidaNoNozomi, YoIhsakak, piratepenguin666, EverlastingBreeze, blindrain, Sycojay, lokiwolf, Lykanthrope, Keelen, and aura183.

And a second round! For my new, sick and twisted friends!

Yancha Kitsune, Hiki-nii, Rilili, Vampire-Hime 101, Mizuki-of-the-Moon, Indifferent Nobody, Asuki, Melody-chii, and Blake-Duff.


	11. Shooting Moons and New Stars

A/N: Prompted by and beta-ed by Indifferent Nobody. **SHE **(in bold for a reason XP.) is the best and I don't know how I wrote the first few chappies without her.

Sorry for the late update, taking Algebra II for 6 weeks over the summer is harder than it looks. (actually, the real reason is that I found the "Honor Harrington" series by _David Weber_ and am refusing to put them down.) XD

-Annie

* * *

**_Star gaze, star blaze_**

**_His body rots but the stars will stay._**

**_Shine for him, shine always,_**

**_Loving him 'til the end of days._**

"Does the moon look red to you?"

She raised an eyebrow at his question, almost invisible against her flushed face as she followed the man's gaze to the dull orb outside his vast window before shrugging on her top.

"No. Why?"

He turned away from her, shouldering on his robes, movements slow and dragging as they had been the last few weeks.

"No particular reason, just my imagination, I guess."

Her eyes softened as she watched him, a frown playing across her full lips. She struggled to keep her own voice casual and non-patronizing as she replied.

"You've been working too hard, Naruto-sama, maybe you're seeing things."

His back faced her as he fumbled with his shoes and he allowed himself a scowl- an all too present feature these last few years. Being Hokage was a thankless job; so was a life as the Kyuubi container, for that matter. At least the service was better now, the scowl shifting to a leer before the bloody moon lured his eyes upward once more.

"Don't call me that! And I'm not- you're right. I'm probably just tired."

The bitterness of his tone belied the casual words, but with a sigh she let the issue drop, striding away with tears in her eyes and a twinge in her ass and shestill felt the little puff of air curling by her ear as he whispered the name of a man she had hoped he'd forgotten. Should've known he never did.

"Just so tired,"

He repeated as she gently shut the door behind her, the girl all-but forgotten as he stared at the moon that was the last remnant of anything and everything he had ever wanted. The moon that Sakura didn't see. The moon that was the color of a long dead lover's eyes. He _had _to be dead, beautiful body cold and rotting in a forgotten ditch.

"I wish..."

Naruto smiled a small, sad smile, barely wincing as ivory fangs tear into his delicate skin. He watched the shooting star as it flashed across the midnight sky, a trail of blood falling in its wake as it crossed over the moon he _knew_ was the color of driven snow.

"I wish you could see the same moon that I do."

**_Moon light, so near._**

**_Unlike the stars you are so clear._**

**_Wish I remembered, wish you were here._**

**_The memories fade, year by year._**

"The moon is bright tonight. Like the sun. Floating in the sea."

His legs dangled over the edge of the cot, toes barely brushing the floor. So short, he thinks, giggling. After so many years he is still short. He wonders briefly how long it has been, but as he follows the train of thought further it vanishes, leaving him confused. Until even the confusion disappears along with the question and he swings his legs once more unhampered by any doubt.

"Please don't do this. Not again. Please."

"It's right outside the window. So close, that maybe, maybe if I reached out far enough, I could hold it forever."

"No. It isn't."

"Can't you see? Can't you _see?_"

"Why can't _you_?"

Whispers Kisame, pulling Itachi from the tiny cot, where he stumbles along, clutching Kisame's hand like a blind man because he_ is_ blind, staring at a wall with no windows, because they can't _have_ windows. Because the last time they had windows, Itachi reached out and flew, like an origami bird with burning wings, falling to the ground with a sickening crunch and smiling with broken teeth and bloody lips, whispering to a forgotten boy with sunny hair and eyes of a starlit sky.

Kisame blinks furiously and clutches Itachi's hand tighter. They can't have windows because Kisame refuses to lose Itachi, not to the moon that stole his eyes and mind nor the boy who stole his heart. Not now when Itachi is finally his. Not when Kisame loves him so much.

"The moon is bright tonight."

* * *

A/N: Not _quite _satisfied with this, but I figured I'd had enough of staring at the same screen and bugging _Indifferent Nobody _so I posted it. Send you guys a note if/when I rework it.

My 3 new ppl, I'm so glad you decided to take out the time and click on my little story.

Adeladaine, Sabaku No Ko-Chan, and knightroad.

Here's to my ppl, glad you guys have stuck with this, and the next few should be coming out quicker.

Envy4, Aeruthin, akatsuki-tenshi-kitsune, Fayneir, GespenstKAF, icefireSpirit Wolf, InfinityAtmo, nonowriting, Mariko666, Markus, NarukitX3, Shien-San, sora0179, The Eye Behind The Mask, vampgal26, BKwriter, Hollow Inside, Unknown Variable, show(.)me(.)the(.)stars., demon in training, Shiro Kitsune-chan, bali55, Duffums, Anbaanobaka, The Dark Side Has Yaoi, candysmymiddlename, demon in training, PirateCaptainBo, Roosjuh1986, Snake D'Morte, ZaffyWuffyBuffy, xXRawkin-ZwinkeyXx, Akatsuki-Hidan, Hiei Luvs Sweetsnow, xxXTheXFallenXxx, TheAlbinoBlackCat, Bloodroot Godot, 3Kiyoshi3, APG66, raralovesrock, Yuki Himura, virgo angelnine4, Vance.G, yoshino-sama, -PENUCHI-, X(.)x(.)Yaoi(.)Kix(.)Ass(.)x(.)X., kyuubi233, Ironically Insane, voidal, BluAugust, SecretSnow, Chaos Raider Tenshi, TuffChick, Shadow-The Black Queen, FaustVII, an239, Demon Naruto 117, Sutzina Zion, Sable Scribe, Labbear, Grim Sinistre Symer, Overlander43, NamidaNoNozomi, YoIhsakak, piratepenguin666, EverlastingBreeze, blindrain, Sycojay, lokiwolf, Lykanthrope, Keelen, aura183, Yancha Kitsune, Hiki-nii, Rilili, Vampire-Hime 101, Mizuki-of-the-Moon, Indifferent Nobody, Asuki, Melody-chii, and Blake-Duff.


	12. Neji's Week

A/N: **Watch Inception.** And Shutter Island. Why are you still reading this? Go on! Why read this crap when you can see the beauty that is angsty Leo and ambiguity?

**Summary: Neji sees far too much.** Beta-ed by Indifferent Nobody.

Sorry, you guys, for the late updates. Right after I finished Algebra II and passed I went on a vacation, so I didn't have a lot of time. I know it's not an excuse... but... (forgive?)

PS. Some, or all, can be seen as pairings, but they don't have to be.

* * *

**_Monday's child is fair of face_**

Neji first drowns at the chuunin exams.

Her eyes drew his own upward, like vast ocean depths, crystal clear and bottomless, but he couldn't see his reflection in them.

Yamanaka Ino sticks out her tongue at Sakura, and it shines red and raw. The opaque windows of his eyes shatter as he counts miniscule cuts on it, wondering why she would brush her mouth so hard. A manicured nail pulls down her eyelid, accentuating the eyeshadow, and layers of mascara caked onto lashes as fine and soft as sunshine flutter down her cheek. Her arms, little twigs with the barest hint of a curve latch onto Sasuke with all the possessive righteousness of a child with a favorite doll.

Neji knows that if she looked at him like that, eyes and arms wide open, he would become her new doll without a second thought. Who can say no to a goddess?

And yet all it takes is a familiar rustle of paper and the half-imagined clink of metal to tear his eyes away from Ino and focus on reality.

**_Tuesday's child is full of grace_**

Neji doesn't remember a time before she quietly slipped into his life. He tries to, but she is always just so _present, _hovering on the edge of his vision, dancing around his blind-spot, never letting herself disappear completely.

No one else seems to see her, but he doesn't pity her. She is destined to fail, fall and crash and burn with the barest whisper or spark. Nothing can change this, so he wonders why he bothers as he watches her struggle beneath full moon, her blunted nails cracking and bleeding against the unforgiving training post.

And he wonders why he wants to scream for her when she bites her lips against the pain.

Her hands fold together for a prayer, tiny drops of blood marring their whiteness. Neji thinks that for a girl sentenced to defeat by an indifferent god, Hinata has never looked so angelic.

**_Wednesday's child is full of woe_**

_"Geniuses should stick together" _He says to Neji with a smile that doesn't quite reach the lazily spinning eyes. Neji stares forward, tracing the features of the ANBU behind him, and he wonders why the familiar creases beneath the Uchiha's eyes are freshly scabbed. The cuts are miniscule, the tiny flakes of dry skin nigh invisible, but Neji can't ignore them.

He's seen them before and they've never ended well.

He remains silent as Itachi calmly instructs him on his fledgling Eight Trigrams, glowering with a blush he's sure the sharingan sees as Itachi casually remarks, _"If the main clan didn't bar your way, you would've been a chuunin by now."_

So when Itachi murmurs, at the end of their lesson and Neji's hands ache from the 16 Trigrams, that the rules weren't always meant to be followed, Neji's sure that's because he's from the Branch Clan, and isn't supposed to learn those techniques.

He tells himself he doesn't see the tear tracks leading into Itachi's scars.

**_Thursday's child has far to go_**

Sasuke was special.

Sasuke shone red inside the Byakugan, even from the beginning, and Neji was puzzled, because things just don't _work _that way. The Byakugan only sees in shades of grey. It's part of the rules.

But Neji long ago accepted that rules are like spider-webs, spreading throughout an abandoned house and trapping helpless flies within it's grasp. Yet it only takes a little breeze to blow them all away.

Neji grins. Or a big enough fire to burn the entire house down.

Sasuke screams as his beloved Amaterasu feeds greedily upon his skin, his own alabaster fingers pulling his eyelids open in a pale mockery of Ino's taunt. Shikamaru stands laughing kilometers away, his shadow dancing in the light of the flames as it latches onto the traitorous Uchiha. Neji laughs along with him, his shoulder-length hair whipping into his face and stinging his eyes.

There are no blemishes on Sasuke, even now. The fire merely melts the skin off, porcelain bone spiraling out like some twisted version of the curse seal, glowing red and fading to black within the Byakugan. And when the skeleton breaks and crumbles, little dots of ash marring their whiteness, Neji closes his eyes and think there isn't anything so special about Sasuke, after all.

**_Friday's child is loving and giving_**

They paralyze Neji, bright flashes of red lodged within blue eyes. If Ino's eyes were an ocean, and Sasuke's were fire; then Naruto's are the sky, tiny stars invisible to most bursting forth beneath a noon-day sun.

Naruto was a drop-out. A do-nothing(good-for-nothing) with dreams of grandeur and a sense of morality strange for boy who'd had no one to teach him. Perhaps the only thing unique about Naruto, at first glance, was the abominable fashion sense.

But Neji's first glance sees more than a lifetime of stares, so when Naruto glared and proclaimed his name to the world, Neji noted the glint of anger and pain and the way his arms stretched wide_._

_Listen to me. Acknowledge me. Please. I'll do anything, give you everything, just let me know I exist._

But Neji doesn't. He ignores the broken plea, opting instead to laugh and scorn, not because he hates the boy, no, he does it because he just can't seem to bring himself to care.

Neji's jaw snaps upward, suddenly staring at the clouds as blood fills his mouth, teeth biting straight through his tongue.

And as Neji watches the birds fly free through the sky, he realizes that Naruto has given him the gift of sight.

He knows the red in Naruto's eyes isn't meant to symbolize blood.

**_Saturday's child works hard for a living_**

The little boy cries in the corner of the playground.

The little boy cries in the corner of the playground, and even though the sound doesn't reach Neji's ears, he covers them self-consciously, as if the pretense would make the boy go away.

He doesn't have a name, the boy, though it's not as if he would get mixed up with anyone else. Neji'd heard about the boy, snickered about by fellow students and pitied by parents, secretly grateful, though nothing is a secret with Neji's eyes, that he is not their child.

Neji wants to walk up to the boy, because, quite frankly, he's bored, and the boy eyes are a lot like his own, the emotions behind them unable to be seen, black holes as opposed to a one-way mirrors. And Neji doesn't care about the societal constructs that bar his way, popularity doesn't matter in battle, and no amount of friends could ever remove the seal around his forehead.

Even as Neji turns, the teachers call out for the end of break and the boy straightens, wiping away tears until the shine in his eyes could be mistaken for determination. Neji wonders how long the boy has fooled them with that trick. Neji knows that no one has seen through his own faked apathy.

But then the boy smiles, a shit-eating grin that's brighter than his eyes, and Neji thinks they're nothing alike, after all.

**_But the Child born on the Sabbath Day_**

Her eyes are closed when she mashes her lips against his, the button of his shirt popping out as she yanks him down the three inches separating them.

Her fingers abruptly loosen, as if she only just then realized what she had done, and Tenten jerks back, hands fluttering helplessly by her side at the silence stretching further between them. Sweat beads on her forehead, and the dark of arousal in her wide eyes flashes into one of fear.

_"Never mind. Forget it," _her voice is low and abrasive, Neji never thought to compare her to Lee until this moment, _"It was stupid of me, any-"_

Their teeth clack together before falling into a rhythm, her tongue pokes hesitantly at his before he opens his own mouth wider to meet it. He pulls the metal senbon from her buns and her hair falls into his palm. It's soft, comforting and warm, curling around his fingers just so. Neji understands her obsession with his own hair now.

_"This, this isn't just an after-mission thing, right? I mean, it can be, I guess."_ His eyes are closed, but he doesn't need them to recognize the hope fluttering inside her like a pulse.

_"No, it's not", _Neji whispers, and he's surprised at how strong his voice is. He thinks it should be shaky, that's how he feels now, like a bird flying through a storm. _"I prom-"_

**_is bonny and blithe, good and gay_**

Neji used to hate his eyes.

Neji used to hate the way he saw _everything_. The hidden scars and little quirks, 'cause the town's littlest voyeur sees in shades of grey, and everyone's dirty little secrets are blacker than sin.

He hates his eyes, still, but for different reasons. If only they'd been sharper, if he'd been a little faster. If only.

_"-ised you I'd stay with you forever! Don't you remember? I'm not gonna leave you!" _The rain beats down heavily through his hair, loosening the tie until it finally breaks. Only a little shift causes his hair to fall into his face, a curtain to hide from the rest of the world.

Neji wishes he could close his eyes and deny reality as easily.

Her fingers are pale as they shakily stroke his cheek, tangling in his hair before falling limply to the floor. He clutches at her, staunching up the blood with his clothes until he's naked and shivering but she's still bleeding so he takes her scrolls, the weapons inside them long abandoned to the forest floor. He still thinks he can hear the clanking of metal as he binds them around her.

He doesn't want this to be his last memory of her, face swelling, her nose and mouth dripping pus and blood. It's no use being able to _see _where the poison is going when he can't do anything to stop it. He watches it trickle towards her heart, anyway.

* * *

Timeline the days go in: Saturday, Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday, Sunday Pt. 1, Friday, Sunday Pt. 2, Thursday.

Again, sorry about the wait. Hope you enjoy(ed)!


	13. A Watched Pot

Hey guys! Long time no see, right? Ahaha, ahaha, aha, ha...

Yeah, must say I seriously took a hiatus there. Wasn't really planned, just needed to prioritize my life a bit for sophmore year and writing fell really far down on the list. Felt bad about that, so I wrote this on a whim between around 12:10-40 am_._ Sure, it went through some revising, but I just wanted to get this out to you guys ASAP.

I've learned a lesson from the previous chapters, only write when you're inspired and when you _know_ it's good, not when a self-imposed deadline starts rearing it's ugly head. It'll usually turn out to be shit. I don't promise updates on a schedule anymore, with friends and a boyfriend and homework and APs, I rarely have time for life, let alone writing.

Well, enough of my downer of a story, here comes Iruka's!

* * *

_be patient, be patient_

The age-old rhyme echoes through Iruka's mind as he stirs the pot of sludge-like water above a roaring fire, the sloshing only disturbed by the dull spoon occasionally thudding against the pot as he dislodges another piece of unnamed meat from the side. It's not a mission, so he doesn't have to be silent now.

Naruto's eyes float up in his memories, so he pushes them down, stirring until all he can see is the dirty red of a standard nin's soup, no vibrant blue staring balefully up at him.

A bubble pops, and Iruka lifts the spoon to his lips, remembering that the fire jutsu he used burns unusually hot, even though he lit it a mere moment ago. No, Iruka wrinkles his scar in disgust and bites on the spoon so hard it crunches between his teeth. A sharp end punctures his tongue and he waits until the sharp tang obliterates the taste of the chunky, slimy soup.

He pulls out the fine slice from his tongue, and where the blood hasn't stained it, it glints ivory in the sunlight. A pulse of chakra heals the cut.

_the world's in such a hurry_

Iruka pokes the pot, a sudden shiver stretching up his arms from his finger as it sinks into the bowl, a spiky layer giving way easily until he touches luke warm metal. Iruka pulls his hand away quickly, but then relaxes. Probably a new type of camouflage, flip the bowl over and - Poof! It's just another grass-covered stump.

A growl from his stomach forces him to double over in pain. He reaches next to his pack and unwraps the nutrition bar, nose flaring in disgust as he bites down. If only his stew would be done _soon._

_be patient be patient_

The spoon is useless now, Iruka rummages out another from his pack and smoothes out the sides where some sort of dirt clings tenaciously. Iruka debates just brushing it off or walking the few yards to the river to wash it all off. If it was just him, it'd be no choice at all, but with a growing boy to take care of...

Speaking of which, Iruka jumps up, eyes wide and searching. Where is Naruto, anyway? Naruto said was just going off for a minute, should have known that boy could screw up even the most simple of training missions. "Camp out with the kid", they say, "Just three days, easy to make that food last," Of course Naruto would eat up all the good food a half an hour in.

Would serve Naruto right, Iruka eating the soup without him. A night without food wouldn't kill him, Lord knows if anything _could_ with that damn Ky-

_the people dance and scurry_

No.

Not true.

Iruka is going to eat because Naruto would already have picked up some berries for himself, probably relaxing in some moss-covered tree, snoozing away his training. Or worse, he'd ditched and gone back to filch from that ramen stand, Konoha was only a half an hour away, after all. Justified, Iruka wipes off the last bit of sticky dirt with his fingers and dives in.

_Lord, _Iruka almost moans in satisfaction at the taste, the sharp tang sliding hot and easy down his sore throat. He does when one of the vegetables bursts under his teeth, dribbling goo from the corner of his lip. He rubs at it with his hand and wipes it off on his pants, leaving a sticky blue trail.

_remember, remember_

Wait... blue? Upending the grassy (furry? hairy? the camouflage must be a prototype, no _way _that could pass for grass) bowl, Iruka drains it dry and stumbles off to wash it off in the river.

Something bright glints in the water. A fish perhaps, trapped by the rocks. Iruka thinks guiltily of Naruto. He should catch and cook it, if Naruto returns early maybe show him how to filet it properly. Iruka fingers his knife, but the edge of the blade doesn't even register on his skin. Must be dull, Iruka shakes his head and chortles. He'll be as absent-minded as his student if this continues on for long, though he could swear he'd sharpened it two days ago in preparation for the trip. Iruka strips, careful to keep his pouch of nigh-useless weaponry on, and dives in. The fish is odd, not flailing as if stuck, just drifting with the current above the orangey rock.

Voices echo from above the river, unintelligible. Iruka frowns, he's so _close_. He grabs the fish, yanking powerfully and dislodging the rock. It floats upwards. Puzzled, Iruka follows it, only to be grabbed a few inches from the surface and hauled to his feet.

_it's best to run and hide_

"Did you do this, Umino-san?" The voice speaks slowly yet falteringly, though something darker lurks beneath the familiar monotone. Iruka struggles to focus, first to place the name and then the face. He blinks in recognition at the name as the voice speaks again. "Did you do this, Iruka," It is no longer a question. " 'id wha'?" Iruka slurs, then forces his tongue to reconnect to his brain. A phantom slap hits the back of his head, this is no way to speak in front of the Hokage! Wait... Hokage?

Iruka blinks furiously, feeling as if he'd stared into the sun for a very long time. The wizened face, unreadable, swims into view.

Naruto's body rests half-naked in the clearing, sliced open with his entrails carelessly left lying about, as if they'd been rummaged through and discarded. There aren't nearly as many as there should be. The fingers are gone, yanked off with the bones scattered around, picked clean and glinting. A rib rests with the thick end hollowed out against the camouflaged bowl Iruka had drunk his soup from. The bowl -

_and pretend that it's all alright_

_than face the face we know's inside_

Iruka screams, and from somewhere deep inside of him, something growls._  
_

* * *

Yeah, rhyme didn't really add anything. Oh well. Tell me when you guessed what was going on! I tried to be subtle, but we all know how that usually turns out.

But seriously, love you all to bits, you're the reason I keep writing. Even the ones who've abandoned me over the hiatus. I know I totally deserve it.

You know the drill:

Envy4, Aeruthin, akatsuki-tenshi-kitsune, Fayneir, GespenstKAF, icefireSpirit Wolf, InfinityAtmo, nonowriting, Mariko666, Markus, NarukitX3, Shien-San, sora0179, The Eye Behind The Mask, vampgal26, BKwriter, Hollow Inside, Unknown Variable, show(.)me(.)the(.)stars., demon in training, Shiro Kitsune-chan, bali55, Duffums, Anbaanobaka, The Dark Side Has Yaoi, candysmymiddlename, demon in training, PirateCaptainBo, Roosjuh1986, Snake D'Morte, ZaffyWuffyBuffy, xXRawkin-ZwinkeyXx, Akatsuki-Hidan, Hiei Luvs Sweetsnow, xxXTheXFallenXxx, TheAlbinoBlackCat, Bloodroot Godot, 3Kiyoshi3, APG66, raralovesrock, Yuki Himura, virgo angelnine4, Vance.G, yoshino-sama, -PENUCHI-, X(.)x(.)Yaoi(.)Kix(.)Ass(.)x(.)X., kyuubi233, Ironically Insane, voidal, BluAugust, SecretSnow, Chaos Raider Tenshi, TuffChick, Shadow-The Black Queen, FaustVII, an239, Demon Naruto 117, Sutzina Zion, Sable Scribe, Labbear, Grim Sinistre Symer, Overlander43, NamidaNoNozomi, YoIhsakak, piratepenguin666, EverlastingBreeze, blindrain, Sycojay, lokiwolf, Lykanthrope, Keelen, aura183, Yancha Kitsune, Hiki-nii, Rilili, Vampire-Hime 101, Mizuki-of-the-Moon, Indifferent Nobody, Asuki, Melody-chii, Blake-Duff, Adeladaine, knightroad, and Sabaku No Ko-Chan.


	14. Rock A Bye

Ladies and Gentlemen, Annacat101 is back! (applause... hopefully) :D

I'm sure you'll be happy to note that my leave of absence has been terminated, and it's all due to my author friend (currently traveling to Turkey with me... any of you guys here?) **WolfyoftheWinds **and our story that we've written together (she types, and we conspire) .net/s/7223033/1/The_Aftermath **aka The Aftermath**

If you don't know the original source material, **Team Fortress 2**, that's okay, I didn't either until we were starting the damn thing. Two teams, RED and BLU, (with 9 awesome characters per team) compete against each other in a video-game type life, complete with a Respawn System... until it breaks. This is the story of what happens when shit (aka DEATH) gets real.

**LONG STORY SHORT IF YOU GUYS REVIEW THE AFTERMATH, WOLFY WILL PUNCH ME UNTIL I WRITE A NEW CHAPTER SO YES I AM BRIBING YOU MWAHAHA I'M EVIL **(I probably will write one, since helping Wolfy has gotten me into a writing mood)

**Wolfy here**: If punching her doesn't work, I'll just keep forcibly subjecting her to more and more TF2 fanart and genius until she actually _does_ write that chapter for you all, so rest assured, it'll happen before we go home. C:

**Enjoy :D **(if you do check out The Aftermath, READ THIS FIRST)

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_Rock-a-bye baby_

You thought you knew everything, didn't you? Watching us all from that untouchable pedestal of yours, keeping track, thinking you saw everything that needed to be seen.

But that's the problem. You _look_ but you do not _see_. Even with our fancy eyes, most of us are still as blind as bats. I was, too. Back before.

But I was changed, you know? I guess I always had the potential to be this good, not that you ever noticed it. I mean, I always knew I could do things others couldn't. That what my "gift", in truth a curse, lacked in the obvious ways made up for it in others. Ways I couldn't understand before, to be sure, but I felt it. All the time. I might have told you, if you'd been there. If I thought for even a moment that you would listen. But you never did. You never believed I could be anything more than a liability.

_Now you will burn_

But that doesn't matter anymore, does it? I've found people to fill the spaces you've left in my life. People to protect. People who need me. And I can help them.

Isn't it the best feeling? Feeling like your life matters to someone else? We're so desensitized to it, dying every day has shut us off from life as well. It takes an orphan with no friends, with no family, with no *anything* to open our eyes to what we've been missing.

I woke up when my heart stopped. Everything became clear to me, in that moment. Knowledge of what I had to do before I died. Of what I have to do to you to ensure the people I love are safe and free. Dying woke me up to life.

You're waking up now, aren't you?

But, unfortunately, you're too mired in your ways to change. Words alone cannot convince a man like you. That's why I used action. No one would have expected it of me; a weak and useless failure. But then again, that was rather the point.

_When the wind blows_

Well look at me then, blabbering on like this. Another thing you _knew_ about me that was wrong. I would have spoken more often if I had even a sliver of hope that each word wouldn't be turned against me to flay me alive from the inside.

Speaking of flaying, did you know that our skin is at least three times as sensitive as the normal shinobi's due to our gift? I'd give you a lecture as to the specifics, but like I said, I've realized that you're not much of a man for words, so I might as well give you an active demonstration. People like you wouldn't acknowledge that someone else has point until it's engraved into your skin or some other similarly dire demonstration, after all. I'll conceal the wounds under your clothes, later.

Scream as much as you like. There's no one around for miles.

_Your stomach will churn_

Remember what I said earlier? About my powers being different? You can feel it, now, can't you? I can, too. I can feel the capillaries twisting under my fingers, the nerves shrieking their horrified tales back to your brain. I can feel each shuddering breath you take against my legs as I sit astride your chest, more clearly than the actual sound of it. I can feel the sweat drenching your hair as I hold up your head and carve a line of fire into your skull. Do you recognize it? I'm almost done now.

It's the Caged Bird symbol, since you don't seem to be responding to my question. It's okay, manners don't really matter to me anymore. it's a good thing, too, since those curses you're spouting at me aren't exactly appropriate for our respective social statuses.

You've gone back to screaming now, I see. Does it really hurt that badly?

I could end that, if I wanted. Cut off the electrical current from your body to your mind, or maybe the just the ones connecting to your voice box. I probably should. More chance of getting caught if I let you scream, regardless of the distance I've taken you from our 'home'. It would be fitting, seeing as how you silenced me for years. But that'll come soon enough.

I'm in no rush.

But you still don't understand, do you? You keep shaking your head. It's a lovely white color in contrast to the red of bruises forming under your skin.

_For when your mind breaks_

I'm not going to kill you. That would be counterproductive to the changes I want to make to this hellhole of a clan. Its funny, really. If we hadn't had the external pressures of the rest of Konoha to unite us, we would have consumed ourselves long ago. We still will eventually. I'm just going to quicken the process along, and ensure that the innocent do not burn alongside the guilty.

So like I said, I'm not going to kill you, even though you're equally as guilty. I didn't even have to hurt you in order to forward my plans. Bet you didn't think your sweet, innocent, fragile liability would turn out to be so good at torture, did you?

Don't worry, I wasn't expecting an intelligible answer.

_You'll finally see_

You're going to be my puppet, you see? Your body will lead the clan but your mind's electrical patterns will have been altered to copy mine. Sort of similar to making a solid clone, but much more delicate and long-lasting. No one will suspect a thing until it's too late to stop this formerly great clan from falling completely. I've had a lot to time to research the brain in the hospital. You know, the place I was in for a _month_ that you never visited me _once._

But I'm sure you had a good reason, and if I'd stop sending shocks of electricity to your heart, I'm sure you'd be able to tell me. Maybe you were training Neji, perhaps trying to make amends. But you can't. You're too blackened by your own sins to make anything right.

I'm not doing this for my own revenge. I'm doing this for Neji, and for all the people this clan has enslaved and murdered. I'm doing this to spare the children who would have been born in the filth of this decaying "family". I'm doing this because there's no other way to fix this. And you are going to be the instrument of it's destruction.

_So down must come Daddy_

Don't fake it. I know you're not dead.

I was going to ask you a question, you know? Right before I severed the final connections that would trap you in the darkness of your mind forever. But I don't need to, anymore. This isn't about me, and it isn't really about you, either. And quite frankly, I don't even care about the answer.

You're a just liability, Hyuuga Hiashi.

I dont require your approval, or even your acknowledgement any longer.

I just need you gone.

_And we'll be free_


End file.
